Tag / prison
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Another Stab at the Death Penalty
Last year I argued that the frequently employed cocktail of questionably sourced sedatives and heart-stopping drugs is unreliable, and that its use in lethal injections for condemned criminals in the United States amounts to cruel and unusual punishment. (Re: Cruel and Usual, WUPR 21.2.) But what is “cruel and unusual,” really? This language, pulled directly…
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Kids in Jail
BY BENJAMIN SZANTON There are many milestones in the lives of kids growing up in Missouri. They learn to ride a bike, head off to kindergarten and graduate elementary school. Then, with their twelfth birthday, they reach a big one: the ability to be charged as adults by their state’s criminal justice system. States have…
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The Victims Behind Bars
BY WALLIS LINKER Law and Order, Orange is the New Black, and The Wire are rife with depictions of the incarcerated criminals and the government agencies that deal with this sector. But, as is often the case with TV, these shows misrepresent life behind bars in state and federal prisons. The quality of life in…
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When Our Adversarial Justice System Fails
BY CHLOE NAGUIB In January 2014, Criminal Court Judge Paul S. Biebel of Illinois granted Nicole Harris, convicted for the murder of her son Jaquari, a Certificate of Innocence. In 2005, Jaquari accidentally strangled himself to death with an elastic band while playing in his bedroom. His six-year-old brother witnessed the accident, but was deemed…
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Recidivism and Rehabilitation
BY XIAOCHANG SONG It is a central doctrine of American exceptionalism that America is the land of opportunity and second chances. We embrace the heartwarming tale of the penniless man who pulls himself up by his bootstraps, and we proudly assert that only in a society like ours could his story be possible. In the…
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Devil in the Black City
BY GABE RUBIN In any other year, Chicago’s 506 murders would have been treated as a passing, local travesty. But in the year of Newtown and Aurora, violent death in American urban warzones is finally trendy enough for the New York Times and CNN. President Barack Obama even stopped by his adopted hometown long enough…
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Washington University Goes to Prison
Good news: after you graduate, odds are you won’t be going to prison. For all the self-deprecating jokes you’ll make about getting a liberal arts education, it’s worth noting that statistically speaking, it’s the most powerful thing standing between you and a life behind bars. In fact, go further back and thank your high school…
